West Hartford Mayor: Problems At Polls 'Won't Happen Again'

WEST HARTFORD — — The registrars of voters on Wednesday said they learned a lot from theproblems that led to long lines and frustration at the town's nine polling places Tuesday morning and assured residents that "it won't happen again."

Voting was difficult for thousands of voters during the early morning rush, thanks to traffic jams, parking shortages, and long, chilly lines outside the polls followed by confusion inside.

Waits as long as 90 minutes led some exasperated residents to walk away without voting and prompted the secretary of the state's office to send extra poll workers.

Slifka said the cause of the long lines and other problems had an easy solution, which was implemented immediately and eased lines for the rest of the day: The town sent public works employees and police officers to manage lines and traffic, and further split lines that divided voters by street address.

"Unfortunately, it didn't come soon enough to alleviate the misery that some of the residents felt in the morning," Slifka said. "The good news was that the reason for the backup was not complex, it doesn't require a complex solution, and I think it can be smoothly put into place for the next election."

The town decided in April to reduce the number of polling places from 20 to nine because most elections have relatively low turnouts.

The nearly 80 percent turnout for the presidential election, combined with other factors, "taxed" the new system, Democratic Registrar Carolyn Thornberry said.

"It was clearly that morning crush that did it," Thornberry said. "It was a combination of a lot of things. In many ways it was that perfect storm… It wasn't entirely redistricting; it wasn't entirely the presidential; it was a little bit of everything… that just came together."

The lines became more manageable as the day went on, Thornberry said, with many voters getting in and out in minutes.

Thornberry and the Republican registrar, Eleanor Brazell, said they learned from the problems and will be debriefing election moderators soon.

"I'm so totally sorry… there are so many people that vote just in the presidential election. You always want them to have a good experience, always," Thornberry said, "and the people who voted in the morning didn't, and for that I am truly sorry."

Voters Tuesday decided to keep the three incumbent state representatives and the senator who represent West Hartford in office for another term.

Democrat Brian Becker defeated challenger Jon Landry in the 19th House District race and Joe Verrengia defeated challenger Chad Thompson to retain the 20th House District seat.

Democrats Andrew Fleischmann, who holds the 18th House District seat, and 5th District Sen. Beth Bye were both unopposed.